I'm none o' they sort. He'll find I baint.'
Here Mary Quince coughed demurely from the foot of the stair, to remind me
that the conversation was protracted.
'I don't very well understand,' I said gravely; 'and I am now going
upstairs.'
'Don't jest a minute, Miss; it's only a word, ye see. We'll be goin' t'
Australia, Sary Mangles, an' me, aboard the _Seamew_, on the 5th. I'm
for Liverpool to-night, and she'll meet me there, an'--an', please God
Almighty, ye'll never see me more; an I'd rather gi'e ye a lift, Maud,
before I go: an' I tell ye what, if ye'll just gi'e me your written promise
ye'll gi'e me that twenty thousand ye were offering to gi'e the Governor,
I'll take ye cleverly out o' Bartram, and put ye wi' your cousin Knollys,
or anywhere ye like best.'
'Take me from Bartram--for twenty thousand pounds! Take me away from my
guardian! You seem to forget, sir,' my indignation rising as I spoke, 'that
I can visit my cousin, Lady Knollys, whenever I please.'
'Well, that is as it may be,' he said, with a sulky deliberation, scraping
about a little bit of paper that lay on the floor with the toe of his boot.
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